Research strategies | Fondation Motrice

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A huge field of research !

Prevention, because nobody is safe!

Cerebral Palsy affects nowadays, each year, 1,800 new-borns although these babies have no specific predisposition to suffer from this handicap.
What can be done to avoid this?
We can:

• study the main risk factors during pregnancy (specifically premature birth), at birth, and during the first days of life,
• identify mechanisms of cerebral injury of these babies, using animal models,
• prevent in an efficient way perinatal neurological accidents,
• provide a very early diagnosis and immediate care:

In a few minutes, brain suffering of a new-born may turn into irreversible injuries.

It is however possible to:

• Improve the very early diagnosis (thanks to neurophysiology or imaging techniques, including at a prenatal stage),
• To develop neuroprotective methods (including through medication) to protect the fetal or baby’s brain,so as to avoid injuries.

Organised and optimal health care delivery throughout life

Any child or adult with Cerebral Palsy may enhance his motor potential and learning abilities when given the means.
It is thus necessary to:

• Comprehend very precisely the motor, sensorial, and cognitive disorders of the different types of CP,
• Understand the development of abnormal neuronal circuits (through imaging techniques and neurophysiology) and to enhance the cerebral “plasticity”, i.e. the brain’s ability, especially the child’s one, to reorganize itself, so as to recover a function,
• Assess and validate rehabilitation techniques so as to allow maximal autonomy,
• Avoid negative consequences of CP (pain, malformations), and control some symptoms (such as abnormal postures and movements) by developing treatments through medication, surgery and rehabilitation…

Quality of life support

Because integration into normal life and autonomy are the best guarantees for quality of life.

It is necessary to:

• Enhance and assess adapted learning techniques in main-stream and special education environments,
• Allow better interaction of people with Cerebral Palsy with their environment, through man-machine interfaces offering new possibilities in terms of motor, sensorial or speech support,
• Define the best indices to assess quality of life for people with CP and develop adapted social integration measures,
• Restore defective functions (motor, visual, cognitive, etc.), the field of research in this field is broad and full of hope: stimulations through electrodes, sensors, cellular and molecular therapy…

An absolute necessity: scientific progress must lead to concrete improvement in the lives of people with CP. Here, however, there are no deadlines. It all depends on the type of CP involved.